


Things are better if I stay

by BunnyJess



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Abusive Family, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arkham Asylum, Bruce is missing in time, Gen, Hallucinations, Hallucinogens, Hospital Escape, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Kidnapping, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Violence, Narrows stick together, Neglectful Family, Original Character(s), Privilege, Recovery, drug exposure, fear toxin, kidnapping to save character, mentions of UtRH, mentions of wounds, turning life around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: A nurse finds an underweight Jason Todd in a cell in Arkham suffering the effects of fear toxin. On a whim they rescue the neglected bird. That one small act of kindness leads to a new era for Crime Alley and The Narrows, a place the Bats really don’t want to step foot in.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 173





	Things are better if I stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jane0Doe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jane0Doe/gifts).



> Written for a prompt from my lovely Jane

Screaming could always be heard throughout Arkham’s grounds and buildings. The insanity seeming to have infected the very soil it was built upon. Everywhere was loud and in your face. From the staff to the plant life, you could never doubt you were there.

None of that matters for this one nurse, quieter than their work colleges but more observant of their patients and their fluctuations. There was one cell that never made a sound, the person inside seeming far too young to be in such a place. Forever keeping to himself and flinching when Joker’s laugh rings. More so than any normal Gotham resident, indicative of personal history with the clown. 

At least three times a shift, never at the same time or frequency, they check in on the boy. It’s all he can be, a teenaged boy only just over eighteen as Arkham didn’t take those under. She made a point to talk to him, telling him about the weather or random plot points from tv shows. Never about Batman and his birds, they didn’t trust them after the mess they’d seen some of the patients come in as. The physical health ward often overflowing due to the way the Bat and his Birds took people down.

It’s during one such visit that their heart breaks and they make a decision that will cost them their career and make them seem like a predatory Harley Quinn. The boy is curled up in his bed, fear toxin stained needles _~~how the fuck did Crane get any of that shit~~_ surrounding him. He’s whimpering one fear, only four words repeating over and over. _No, Dad, Bruce,_ and _Batman_.

Looking closer and pulling up all the useless knowledge in the back of their mind, gleaned from trashy tabloids in the nurses lounge, they realise who the patient is. They have never had a last name but that first name is enough for them to put it all together.

This is Jason Todd and his adoptive father is the motherfucking Batman!

Sneaking someone off the grounds is easier than they know it should be. Other hospitals have far tighter security and their patients aren’t homicidal clowns bent on the world’s laughter. All the while Jason tries to curl further into himself.

He is terrified. Whatever he is seeing isn’t good. Whatever that useless billionaire did to one of their kin isn’t good. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what Jason is. He’s one of their kin, birds of the same grimy feather thanks to the Alley. Where they pulled themselves out and managed to become a nurse, Jason got the life they all dreamed of and then had it cruelly taken away.

The constant fearful murmuring of his adoptive father’s name and alter ego made them reconsider. Jason must have been forced to become Robin, even if posed as only an option a kid from the alley would be too scared to say no and risk their new life, and everyone in Gotham had heard the rumours of Joker killing the second Robin.

Back at their apartment; curtains shut, lights and TV on, and an abused kid tucked into their side they start to plan what’ll come next. Most of it hinges on Jason and his help. If he became who they think he did then he’s already shown he wants to help the poorest of Gotham, maybe it’s time to remind him of that.

As the fear toxin starts to filter out of his system he starts saying more. His eyes distant, locked in horrors of the past for the brain need not conjure any when you’ve lived through what Jason clearly had.

“Please Dad, pick me. I _need_ you to save me one more time.” He cries into their side, the one sided conversation continuing. “I’ll take all the beatings you want to give me, I’ll let Timmers and Dickie do the same. Just, please, Bruce. Dad. Kill _him_.”

He flinched harder and fell off the sofa to the floor. Hands coming up to hold his throat as he tried to scream around a memory. A flash of pink scar tissue was all they needed to see to know. They’d treated enough criminals with the Bat’s knife wounds to know what they looked like. The blades distinct edge leaving just a distinct of a wound. A warning not to continue with a life of crime.

The fact they would slit their own child’s throat appalled the nurse. They’d seen the lasting effects child abuse could have; had lived through it themselves, only managing to heal thanks to the support offered at college. It made them sick to realise that support was paid for by a man who would inflict such a wound on their child.

Jason eventually calmed down. Falling quiet on the rug and allowing the nurse to guide them back to the sofa. Even tucking himself under their arm without complaint or asking. Clearly he was touch-starved. It made them wonder the last time anyone had touched them with affection instead of aggression.

When they started to feel sleepy themselves, they scooped Jason into their arms, noticing how the boy had clearly lost weight during his time in Arkham as he wasn’t the 200lbs written on his intake documents. It hadn’t been noticeable until they were able to easily carry him to their bed.

As soon as they lay down beside him, Jason tucked himself into their side and rested his head on their shoulder. A small, content smile tugging at his lips. It was a marked improvement from the terror filled face they’d had to endure for too many hours. Clearly the patients wanted to break the boy, as if he hadn’t been through enough in his short life.

“Where am I?” Jason’s voice was soft, worn from screaming through nightmares in sleep and fear toxin for hours. “You’re that nurse, Destiny, who always sits with me.”

They looked closely at the boy. His eyes were clear, blue and green swirling together in a very unnatural way. “I am. You’re at my place, I couldn’t let you stay there. Not after what Crane did to you. You’re safe here Jason, not even Batman or Bruce Wayne can get you here.”

His eyes widened and he looked like guilt was suddenly weighing him down. Realisation hitting him that he’d revealed the biggest secret he’d ever had to keep. All because Crane was manipulated by Joker into dosing him with his stupid toxin.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. I do have a proposition for you though.” Destiny moved closer, their hands taking the boy’s as he began trying to claw at his arms. “Stay here and hide out. When you’re feeling up to it I’ll help you help the people you always have helped. Batman and Co might not realise it but I know the Narrows need Red Hood and his brand of justice. He’s more involved in the community than they realise isn’t he. Since you’ve been in Arkham what you set up has begun to dissolve.”

Jason felt that rage bubbling up. Tinged green around the edges, encouraged by his own desire to save those like him. Those abandoned by Bruce’s fear of the Alley.

He knew he could help. First though, it involved helping himself. He needed to get back to peak performance. If he went against the new Bat as he was he’d surely end up in Arkham again, only this time there’d be no Destiny to stop him succumbing to the terror locked within him. They didn’t know it, but they’d kept him sane. They’d kept him from allowing the pit to take over and end his life again.

It took months of hard work. Jason dedicating himself to rebuilding his body and mind. Stronger than before with the help of his new parental figure. Over those months they’d proved to Jason that they could handle whatever he threw at them, from throwing knives to vicious verbal abuse. All because Arkham had loosened the lock he’d placed on the pit.

His _family_ didn’t know what was coming. Didn’t know they’d created a new kind of villain. One they’d never catch if he got everything right.

****

Dick sat in the cave below the Penthouse fuming. Tim had come back for a short stay and had noticed something he and Damian had missed. Crime Alley and the surrounding borough were the lowest area for crime.

New shelters and youth centres had popped up. Food drives were run regularly and Leslie had managed to expand her free clinic to include two new buildings so healthcare could be provided free of charge to everyone in the area. Drug related deaths were at an all time low and the drug trade had been nearly fully forced out.

Day centres for rehab from various addictions were running even through the weekend. Jobs had been created and shops had popped up to create a high street of sorts straight down the centre of the Narrows.

Looking at all the data it had been getting better for the past six months. Dick hadn’t noticed. Neither had Damian or Barbara. All too consumed with their grief over Bruce and guilt over committing Jason. The Narrows has never been a top priority for the family, Bruce implanting his own fear of the place into them all subconsciously.

He knew he needed to investigate. People who had long criminal records, especially against the extremely vulnerable were turning up shot dead, dumped outside the precinct in Burnley. It was the closest one to the borough; the GCPD having long given up patrolling or investigating the area.

A new villain was clearly behind it all. Potentially even using mind control to influence such desolate people. There was simply no way, in their minds, that they could have turned their lives around otherwise. Their privilege showing horrendously.

The first time a Bat walked into one of the shelters they found themselves lost, fumbling through meetings as the workers showed them around. There were clear signs that the people there distrusted them. Rooms blocked or people guarding certain spaces.

Meeting the social worker assigned to the shelter was the worst moment. They explained that if they tried to interfere then the Narrows would band together to protect their own. The Bats never did anything for them so they won’t do anything for the Bats.

The next place they go to is one of the many food banks. Everything is so well oiled you’d have thought a business graduate was running the system. Instead they found a series of people who’d needed the food banks throughout the years, maintaining a system that meant people didn’t suffer like they did.

When one caught sight of Red Robin, attempting to hide in the minimal shadows; thanks to carefully placed lighting; they shouted at him like the child he was. They’d all been informed of the ages of each Bat. None wanted to attack the children so shouting was the most they’d do.

“You! Get. Out. People who ignored our suffering and are blinded by their own privilege are NOT welcome here.” This tiny slip of a woman, no taller than 5’ stared Red Robin down. “ _Our_ hero has never once neglected us.”

Once again he left with the same message Dick had received. If they try to intervene or stop the Hero of The Narrows they’ll all rise up and fight back.

People will always rise up against those that ignore them or oppress them. It was something Jason had known from a young age.

Then, while working with the League of Assassins, he discovered the power behind working from the shadows. Not in the way Batman does. Oh no. It’s more than fear from literal shadows. It’s the moving of money and infrastructure to where you want it. It’s giving power to the right people and watching your plan evolve.

Last time he’d run the area he’d done so alone. Now he had hundreds of people at his beck-and-call. All working towards the same goal…making The Narrows better than Gotham. Giving life, hope, and future to the kids that scrabbled to survive under the Bats and the politicians. No longer ignored, they were using their anonymity to become their very best.

Finally, as a last resort, they gathered together with Oracle watching every CCTV camera she could hack (which wasn’t many considering the number they’d seen about) and went to visit Leslie Thompkins. Picking out her original clinic as the schedule they’d found placed her there. Just in case it was wrong, they had placed cameras at the other clinics but all had been blocked or broken within half-hour of being put up.

Less than five years ago Leslie would have welcomed Dick into the clinic with a twinkle in her eye and a compassionate scold on the tip of her tongue. That all changed when Bruce lost Jason. The woman had known him far longer than any of the Bats and had been trying to convince him to stay with her when Bruce had swept in and adopted him.

Every warm, caring interaction they’d had in the past had changed since Ethiopia to that of a doctor looking over an abusive father. Desperate to get the kids to safety but knowing they’d already failed. When Tim and then Damian joined the picture she’d closed off even more. Not even seeing Alfred.

“Leslie,” Dick hated that he had to use the Batman voice but he couldn’t blow the ruse for an old family friend.

“It’s Dr Thompkins. If none of you are injured then you have no business being here. If you were injured, judging from your suits, I’d say you have enough money to not need to waste the resources of the most impoverished.” There it was, the voice Dick had hated since losing Jason. Sure, Jason was back and locked safely away in Arkham for the past year however, it wasn’t the same boisterous kid they’d once known.

He spread his gait, readying to make himself too difficult to move, when the door opened. Each of the Bats tried to cover their surprise, turning to look them over. Dick flicked his eyes down to the name badge.

“Please return to your work Nurse Destiny. Dr Thompkins tell her to leave.” He cringed at how like Bruce he sounded.

“They,” Dr Thompkins snarled at Dick. “Destiny goes by They/Them, ask don’t just assume.”

“Thanks Les.” Dick froze as they spoke, sure it wasn’t an uncommon abbreviation for the doctor but there was only one person who called her that so often others picked it up. It was probably a coincidence, they had an Alley accent after all. “The Commish is here to get our monthly aggrevated injuries report. I just wanted to make sure the numbers from this lot were included.” They jerked their thumb at the Bats, Damian now starting to splutter and looking ready to leap to Dick’s defence. 

Leslie handed over a rather thick looking packet. Scrawled on the front was the month and each of their names. Dick felt lost. He knew the three of them had thrown their fair share of batarangs during their life. Surely it wasn’t that many in a month. Tim didn’t look very surprised at the thickness of the packet, just that Leslie had that many in her clinic.

“Where do you think those people go to get their healthcare? Do you think that they can afford insurance despite having had to turn to crime to make a living?” Leslie wasn’t having any of their bullshit that night. “Can you give our mutual friend a call and let them know what’s happened?”

Destiny let out a chuckle, the Bats too flummoxed to notice her eyes glance to the window for a second. “I’m sure they’re already well aware. After all, we protect our own down here.”


End file.
